SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION SEO COMPANY

According to a post on Search Engine Roundtable their are rumours brewin’ that AdSense data will soon be integrated into Google Analytics for a site - saving AdSense publishers time and headaches when matching up data. Apparently the first post to crack the news has since been removed so this may well just be hearsay, but such a feature would be welcomed by many - granted that adequate care was taken not to disclose any information through Analytics’ industry benchmarking data sharing that should be kept private. This has been a long awaited feature by many AdSense publishers, who in the mean time have tried different bandaid solutions such as special javascript goals (that offered sketchy data at best), and as an AdSense publisher myself I hope that the plans will go ahead.

It comes as no suprise that since Yahoo has made a few announcements about its plans on mixing TV and Internet, Google also it seems has been working hard on a similar project. Google wants to take its massive search marketing model and transport it to the television, replacing mouse clicks with remote control clicks. To be able to tell what time and program a television viewer switches over from an ad is possible with the latest in digital television technology.

Whilst this does sound good in theory, once again its not just a matter of implementing the network and away Google goes. AdWeek reports:

“I don’t think Google is going to own TV advertising,” said Roger Barnette, president of SearchIgnite, an advertising bid management system. “They can in search because everyone goes to Google.com to do a search. They’re not going to own TV networks. They’re going to be a technology middleman.”

“It seems that the television establishment, both the buyers and sellers, are likely to want to buy it person to person,” said David Graves, an analyst with Forrester Research. “Changing the way TV is bought and sold is a not-insignificant task.”

If Google plans on pushing its weight around on the television advertising world, a tried and tested medium for decades, they might not get the welcome that they are desiring or expecting.

Intel Corp and Yahoo are working extremely hard on merging probably the two biggest forms of media in the 21st century - Television and the Internet. These companies are not the first to try this, nor will be the last, but they have the time, money and resources to be able to have the best attempt at this so far.

They are considering using the current ideas of ‘Widget’ technology that has been incorporated on many desktops across all platforms over the last few years. By enabling a sidebar scrolling along the bottom of the television screen, it could be possible you are watching your favourite show, but at the same time check your email on a sidebar, or download the latest stock quotes.

It’s not as easy as it sounds, the Wall Street Journal states:

But they face stiff competition, and the need to rally Internet, software and consumer-electronics companies behind their plan. Intel said it has received support from some big players, including cable giant Comcast Corp., Walt Disney Co.’s ABC unit and hardware makers Sony Corp., Toshiba Corp., Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Inc.

If Yahoo and Intel can make this technology accessible and affordable to consumers and get the backing it needs from the electronic industry - I believe the uptake of this technology will prove to be a very successful merging of Television and the Internet.

Jerry Seinfeld is set to help Microsoft shed the “frustrated old geekster” image that Apple has so cleverly branded Windows users with through it’s ongoing series of “I’m a MAC, and I’m a PC” commercials.

A new advertising campaign of some $300 million from the software giant will feature, among others, Jerry Seinfeld, in a series of adverts with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates (as if he’s not an old geekster himself). The tagline for the series, which will apparently add $10 million to Seinfeld’s kitty, is reportedly something along the lines of “Windows, Not Walls.”

Below is a parody of the orignal series of Ads by Apple;

The original series itself has spawned many a viral video on youtube.

A small group of ex-Google employees have started a search engine company with hopes of conquering the “big three”: Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. The founders of the company (Anna Patterson and Tom Costello) were integral members of Google, working on the algorithm, the heart of the Google.

Their new search engine, Cuil (pronounced “Cool”), promises to deliver  more relevant results, and with a larger search index. There have been plenty of other search engines who have attempted to break into the market, however Cuil believe their pedigree, combined with indexing more sites will give them an edge. Not all analysts agree with the methodology however, as Danny Sullivan has these thoughts:

…unimpressed by Cuil’s claim that its index includes more Web pages, noting that that could mean users are “overwhelmed by a whole bunch of junk”

For more information on the new company, check out the New York Times article.

Some friends in America have noticed that Google has recently been testing a new search layout that allows users of the search engine to modify how the results appear on their screen. Options include the ability to see longer text excerpts, dates, places and even images. There’s even the choice to limit Google search results to fresh pages only (created in the last month) without using the “Advanced Search Page”.

If or when this change will occur is still unknown, along if it will be applied to Google Australia and across other countries. It’s also interesting to note that the Sponsored Links are no where to be seen. You can read more about this development at Digital Inspiration.

Yahoo, in an attempt to win back market share from Google has decided to let independent web developers use the Yahoo technology to create their own custom searches.

This new service will be know as “Build Your Own Search” or BOSS, and will allow any third party developers to piggyback onto their technology. Yahoo in return will display their ads next to any search result, in an effort to combat Google Ads.

Yahoo figures plenty of Web developers will be interested because it’s providing access to a set of tools that would cost more than $300 million to build from scratch.

Whether this is a sign of innovation or desperation from the wounded giant of the search engine world is yet to be seen. Microsoft has attempted a takeover of Yahoo, with certain shareholders favouring the takeover due to plummeting share prices.

For more information on the technology and the takeover, check out the Forbes article.

An obscenity trial currently underway in Florida is highlighting the impact that search engines are having on the offline world. The defence team are using results gathered from Google to show the browsing trends of the community.

 Whether the data is admissible in court or not is yet to be determined, however the salient fact is that the data collected by the major search engines is providing a more detailed shapshot of our lives.

“That’s why a lot of people are nervous about Google or Yahoo having all this data,” [Chris Hansen, lawyer] said.

For more information, see the New York Times Article
The far-reaching impact of cases like this come into play when looking at the Microsoft takeover attempts of Yahoo.  Civil Libertarians are worried that the fewer the number of companies holding onto the data, the less secure the private viewing histories would be.

Image via WikipediaA new deal between Google and creator of cartoons “Family Guy” and “American Dad” will see an innovative new method of syndicating original web content. A new project by Seth entitled “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy” is set to appear exclusively on the web, and the 50 two-minute episodes, featuring a cast of newly created characters, will be delivered in a very unique way.

The innovative part involves the distribution plan. Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience, typically young men. Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a “Cavalcade” video clip.

More info on the plans can be found on nytimes.com.

Since it’s launch around two years ago, Google Trends has allowed users to graph the trend in the number of searches over time for different keywords and in different locations and languages, etc. Clever people were able to use these graphs in conjunction with other tools and stats to try and estimate search volumes and compare whilst undertaking tasks such as keyword research. However, things are set to become much easier;

Now Google is giving users the ability to search across terms in its database, instantly chart how they compare to other search terms, then export the underlying numerical data into a common spreadsheet format to compare with other data.

The new features require a user to be logged in with a Google account. More info on Yahoo! News.